Thread: Why is Saad 'bad' and what's El Enab about?

Just watched the video for El Enab w/Dina & thought it was cute. The most clothes I think I've ever seen Dina wear, too ..l;, One person commented on youtube indicating that there's some sort of double meaning to what Saad is singing about. I don't speak Arabic & can only pick out occasional words, so what's he saying?

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWJumMXwl_o]YouTube - Saad El-Saghir & Bellydancer Dina - El-Enab[/ame]

edit to add: okay I found this as the supposed transliteration...is this right?

01.Fakhani we baheb el fakha
02.we bamoot fe el moz we el manga
03.Besraha ala fakha baghier
04.we babe'a we ashtry be damir
05.how eh elaanp elaanp elaanp
06.ahmar asfar.. ahmar asfar
07.ahmer we zay el loz
08.we ataam ya nas men el mooz

01.A fruit seller and I love fruit
02.I love in banana and mango
03.In fact, envious on fruit
04.And do a sale and purchase in good conscience
05.What is this blackberries blackberries blackberries
06.Red and yellow.. Red and yellow
07.Like almonds and red
08.and its taste is better than bananas

The fruit is all metaphorical for lady-parts. (boobies!)

I wouldn't call Saad "bad" per se. A lot of Egyptians enjoy him (though bear in mind sha'abi-style music comes from the Egyptian working class, so it's not for everyone) and find the lyrics all in good fun. Arab people are not nearly as prudish as they are made out to be in the Western media! The important thing is to be aware that the song is full of innuendo and to be aware of your audience and their tastes.

I just took a shaabi workshop with Tarik Sultan and the choreo was to this song.

Think figuratively: do you really think he's singing about fruit? Saad is essentially using the fruit as a metaphor for his love of women, different types of women, and, umm, parts of their bodies.

That's it. Nothing deeper or more spiritual goin' on. I promise.

Yasmin (DC) has a full translation from an Egyptian on her site:
Lyrics - al-3einab

In Egyptian music a lot of fruit references are double entendres for body parts

I kinda figured something was up with the fruit references, but wasn't sure with bananas & dates in the mix. Thanks for clarifying ..g.:

Originally Posted by SatinWorship19

I just took a shaabi workshop with Tarik Sultan and the choreo was to this song.

Think figuratively: do you really think he's singing about fruit? Saad is essentially using the fruit as a metaphor for his love of women, different types of women, and, umm, parts of their bodies.

That's it. Nothing deeper or more spiritual goin' on. I promise.

I took this workshop and learned this choreo too. Isn't Tarik the best? ..g.:

Originally Posted by nisaasaintlouis

I wouldn't call Saad "bad" per se. A lot of Egyptians enjoy him (though bear in mind sha'abi-style music comes from the Egyptian working class, so it's not for everyone) and find the lyrics all in good fun.

The one caveat to performing to shaabi is that it can, at times, get intensely political. There was a popular singer whose biggest hit is "I Hate Israel." The name completely escapes me.

It was one of my dancer friends who is Jewish, who informed me of this. She was at a concert in Egypt and this singer stopped to sing at her table and she said she flat-out refused to even acknowledge the guy as he belittled her faith.

My soapbox of the day? As with any song you dance to, it's especially important to know what exactly you're dancing to. Happily, most shaabi is good "clean" (relatively speaking) fun.

Originally Posted by saheli

I took this workshop and learned this choreo too. Isn't Tarik the best? ..g.:

Wait, do you live near me? Were you at the one in New London, CT?

Tarik is SUCH a fun dude! His insights are always dead on, and always refreshing. Love his sense of humor and his dance style!

Originally Posted by SatinWorship19

The one caveat to performing to shaabi is that it can, at times, get intensely political. There was a popular singer whose biggest hit is "I Hate Israel." The name completely escapes me.

Yes, I know. One of Saad's other big hits is "Baheb ya Hamar" which alludes to Hosni Mubarak.

The main point is that dancers need to know what they are dancing to.

FWIW, there are a couple of recent sha'abi related threads on Bhuz...

Originally Posted by nisaasaintlouis

FWIW, there are a couple of recent sha'abi related threads on Bhuz...

Thanks for the tip. I'm gonna have to catch up on those!

Originally Posted by SatinWorship19

The one caveat to performing to shaabi is that it can, at times, get intensely political. There was a popular singer whose biggest hit is "I Hate Israel." The name completely escapes me.

It was one of my dancer friends who is Jewish, who informed me of this. She was at a concert in Egypt and this singer stopped to sing at her table and she said she flat-out refused to even acknowledge the guy as he belittled her faith.

My soapbox of the day? As with any song you dance to, it's especially important to know what exactly you're dancing to. Happily, most shaabi is good "clean" (relatively speaking) fun.

Good to know!

Originally Posted by DancingRuya

I kinda figured something was up with the fruit references, but wasn't sure with bananas & dates in the mix. Thanks for clarifying ..g.:

I just assumed it meant Saad was an equal opportunity kind of fruit seller.

Originally Posted by zumarrad

I just assumed it meant Saad was an equal opportunity kind of fruit seller.

I think most virile young men enjoy a grape as much as they enjoy a mango...

Originally Posted by zumarrad

I just assumed it meant Saad was an equal opportunity kind of fruit seller.

From the lyrics SamiraShuruk linked to (which is the translation I used when I started working on a shabbi piece to El Enab): I die for bananas and mangos

I would share the visual I got when thinking about combining a "banana" with "mangos", but it's beyond NC-17.

*watches clip*

Oh, THAT song! I didn't even know I knew it!

El Enab = not blackberries...it's grapes

The thing about Arab cultural expressions is that they dont say you are "like" this and that. They say you "ARE" this and that.

You ARE a mango
You ARE a grape
You ARE a banana

It becomes much more double entendre when you add that aspect to it. I had my translator give me a 4 hour lecture on the subject because I was consistently saying "oh so you mean he's saying she is/you are sweet LIKE mangos"... my translator gave me an earful...I'll never make that mistake again.

It's not the fact that the words themselves are offensive necessarily, its more in the fact that the insinuation that is implied is - AND how people's minds choose to read it.

Shaabi is not considered high class from the get go, so people "prefer" to read the lyrics as low class as well while the lyrics may not actually be low class...then...the shaabi singers play on words on purpose to "tick" people off.

It's like a bunch of Bollywood songs too - some are so full of double entendre and cultural expressions and terminology that it is impossible to translate the essence and meaning of the songs without writing a dissertation about them...

DaVid

Originally Posted by nisaasaintlouis

I think most virile young men enjoy a grape as much as they enjoy a mango...

Their enjoyment of bananas, however, is often misunderstood. Often they insist they don't REALLY like bananas, not in any serious or committed way. They like grapes and mangos far too much to give them up for a diet of only bananas. It's just, uh, a phase.

Originally Posted by zumarrad

Their enjoyment of bananas, however, is often misunderstood. Often they insist they don't REALLY like bananas, not in any serious or committed way. They like grapes and mangos far too much to give them up for a diet of only bananas. It's just, uh, a phase.

You sure know how to talk shaabi..l;,

Originally Posted by SatinWorship19

Wait, do you live near me? Were you at the one in New London, CT?

Tarik is SUCH a fun dude! His insights are always dead on, and always refreshing. Love his sense of humor and his dance style!

Saheli was at the Atlanta workshop in January where Tarik taught the choreo. :) It was a fabulous workshop and yes, he is really fun!

I think the word would be naughty rather than bad ;)

On that note, I love the song El Hantour. That carriage ride sounds like something awesome. :)

Originally Posted by SatinWorship19

Wait, do you live near me? Were you at the one in New London, CT?

Tarik is SUCH a fun dude! His insights are always dead on, and always refreshing. Love his sense of humor and his dance style!

I live in Altanta. He was here in January. We had such a blast. He is way too funny. When we were going over shimmies, he told my friend that her shimmy needed to take a valium lol!

He definitely knows his stuff and he caused me rethink everything I've learned in the last seven years and I've been working really hard to refine my technique since his workshop. I definitely want to learn with him again. I totally recommend it to anyone to take a workshop or class with him if they get the opportunity. It's worth every penny!

Originally Posted by zumarrad

Their enjoyment of bananas, however, is often misunderstood. Often they insist they don't REALLY like bananas, not in any serious or committed way. They like grapes and mangos far too much to give them up for a diet of only bananas. It's just, uh, a phase.

And some attempt to force their fondness for grapes and mangos on others, who should be allowed to happily go on enjoying bananas...

Originally Posted by zumarrad

Their enjoyment of bananas, however, is often misunderstood. Often they insist they don't REALLY like bananas, not in any serious or committed way. They like grapes and mangos far too much to give them up for a diet of only bananas. It's just, uh, a phase.

Actually guys, the banana reference is about women. In Egypt, a sexy girl is referred to as a Moza (banana) So when Saad says " baheb al moz wa al manga," he's actually saying " I love sexy and sweet girls."

Originally Posted by zumarrad

I just assumed it meant Saad was an equal opportunity kind of fruit seller.

He is! That is why he sings about "the reeeeeed grapes, the yeeeeelllowwww grapes!"

I love this song. Fifi did some fabulous cheeky stuff with it at her Dallas workshops (no I wasn't there but was glued to the dvds!) Actually I am working on doing this song tossing grapes to the audience. I imagine that I will eat some while dancing (seedless only). And of course, having big mangas I will do some stupendous boob shimmies for that part. But I also have this mental image of doing the little fish/big fish that got away gesture in the part about sogheir/kebir. I could roll my eyes when I spread my hands out for the KEBIR part. At heart I am a cut up and shaabi suits me just fine.

And since I am a senior citizen if people don't like it they can just imagine that I am off my rocker in my dotage.

Sorry I missed Tarik in Atlanta. He did a shaabi workshop with him a while back where he did choreo to a different Saad song. Tarik has such a sense of humor. I think he has hit his stride with shaabi!

Souzan

I was in New London! I learned the choreo there; my intermedite group is performing it this weekend at a hafli. What fun!

Originally Posted by princessisabella

Actually guys, the banana reference is about women. In Egypt, a sexy girl is referred to as a Moza (banana) So when Saad says " baheb al moz wa al manga," he's actually saying " I love sexy and sweet girls."

Thanks for clarifying that - I too thought that bananas and dates referred to male anatomy and it sorta surprised me that someone would be so open about trying out a little man action in a country where you can go to jail for homosexuality!

Originally Posted by Nepenthe

Thanks for clarifying that - I too thought that bananas and dates referred to male anatomy and it sorta surprised me that someone would be so open about trying out a little man action in a country where you can go to jail for homosexuality!

I think mish mish covers those parts.

Originally Posted by princessisabella

Actually guys, the banana reference is about women. In Egypt, a sexy girl is referred to as a Moza (banana) So when Saad says " baheb al moz wa al manga," he's actually saying " I love sexy and sweet girls."

..l;, Good to know..... good to know!!!!